Heretofore, several methods have been used to remove a floating layer of combustible material, such as oil, from the surface of large bodies of water. One method uses open, in situ burning of the floating layer of combustible material on the water surface. Another method employs a floating burning device that first atomizes the floating combustible layer and then destroys it by combustion. Ideally, such devices should operate efficiently and safely under typical weather conditions with little or no human supervision. Also, such devices should be relatively small and compact for quick and easy deployment in an emergency situation.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,308,006 and 4,576,569 both disclose floating oil burning devices that remove a floating oil layer from a large body of water using atomization and combustion. In each device disclosed therein, acoustical energy is used in the atomization process. More particularly, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,006, acoustical energy is produced by a sound generating means located at or slightly below the oil layer surface. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,569, a resonating chamber is placed above a compressed air source which is submerged below the oil surface. A supply of stream of compressed air is transmitted vertically into a resonating chamber. A depression element located beneath the resonating chamber receives diverging shocks waves produced by the resonating chamber which then acts to shear and atomize the oil layer. The atomized oil droplets are then burned by a combustion means.
The devices disclosed in the above mentioned patents have several drawbacks. First, it has been discovered that using acoustical energy to produce shocks that shear and atomize the oil layer is very inefficient and, at times, ineffective. It has been discovered that a stream of compressed air alone properly located below the surface of the oil layer is as efficient and as effective as the acoustical energy methods used in the above patents. Second, because the devices described in the above patents use relatively large components to create the acoustic energy, the devices themselves difficult to transport and are relatively unstable in certain weather conditions.
A third drawback with the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,569, is that ignited oil droplets often escape from the combustion plume and fall into the floating oil layer surrounding the device. This causes the surrounding oil layer to ignite and burn in an uncontrollable manner which may actually destroy the device and create large, environmentally undesirable clouds of smoke.
In still fourth drawback of above disclosed devices is the possible interruption of the delivery of the floating oil layer into the device. It is well known that wind and wave action may interfere with the oil layer's movement into the device during operation. When this occurs, atomized oil droplets are no longer produced for combustion which may cause a cessation of combustion. Before combustion can resume, reignition of the combustion means within the device would be required. This would require constant monitoring of the device during the operation.
A floating oil burning device or apparatus which do not have these drawbacks, therefore, would be highly desirable.